Arvid Kramer

Arvid Kramer

Pro career	1980–1996
Career history
1980	Denver Nuggets
1980–1981	Antonini Siena (Italy)
1982–1983	Bayer Giants Leverkusen (Germany)
1996	Telekom Baskets Bonn (Germany)
Info Page
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Arvid Kramer (born October 2, 1956) is a retired American basketball player, mostly known for being the first overall pick by the Miami Heat of the NBA in the 1988 expansion draft at the age of 31, and furthermore being the only player to be selected in two expansion drafts and never playing for the teams that drafted him.^[1] He was 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 m) tall and 220 pounds (100 kg) and played at the center position during most of his basketball career.

Early life

Arvid Kramer was born in Fulda, Minnesota. He played basketball for Augustana College.

Professional career

Kramer was drafted by the Utah Jazz in the 3rd round (1st pick, 45th overall) of the 1979 NBA Draft and left college. After the draft, the Jazz made a 2-for-1 trade involving Bernard King, which left no room for Kramer on their roster, so they waived him. He played about a half season in the CBA before being signed to a 10-day contract by the Denver Nuggets on February 28, 1980. He was good enough to later get signed for the remainder of the season.^[2]

He only played eight games with the Nuggets in 1979–80. He was left unprotected and selected by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1980 NBA Expansion Draft. The Mavericks had more contracts than roster spots, so Kramer accepted a contract to play for a team in Italy before the 1980 season. He never played in another NBA game and had a long career in Europe, where he played in various leagues in Italy, France and Germany. He retired as a player in 1996 and worked as a general manager for the Bonn team (in Germany) from 1999 to 2005.^[3]

The expansion Miami Heat of the NBA made him the first overall pick in the 1988 expansion draft at the age of 31. The Dallas Mavericks wanted to make sure that their players Uwe Blab, Steve Alford or Bill Wennington, who were left unprotected, would not be selected, so they offered the Miami Heat the rights to Arvid Kramer and their first choice (No. 20) in the college draft (which later would turn out to become Kevin Edwards).^[4] He never played for the Heat.

Personal life

Kramer met his first and second wives in Germany. As of 2010, he lives in San Diego, California, where works as a youth basketball instructor.^[3]

Notes

1. ^ http://www.hoopsanalyst.com/exp.htm
2. ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kramear01.html
3. ^ ^{a b} http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050624/news_m1sc24kramer.html
4. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEEDB1E3AF937A15755C0A96E948260

Persondata
Name	Kramer, Arvid
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 2, 1956
Place of birth	Fulda, Minnesota
Date of death
Place of death